GEORGIA: ELECTION CODE REFORM BACK AGAIN

C O N F I D E N T I A L TBILISI 002417

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/16/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KDEM GG
SUBJECT: GEORGIA: ELECTION CODE REFORM BACK AGAIN

REF: 07 TBILISI 1477

Classified By: Ambassador John Tefft for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary/Comment: Speaker Bakradze announced
December 15 the formation of a special group of lawmakers
from the Parliamentary majority and minority, NGO
representatives, and non-Parliamentary opposition to improve
the election code. It is generally agreed that the current
code is flawed and has been a source of much criticism from
both the opposition and NGO and international community.
This move represents a positive step and concrete effort to
bring the various stakeholders together to form some sort of
consensus, although the Georgians have been down this road
before (reftel). Thus far, all non-Parliamentary opposition
parties except the Industrialists have said they will not
take part in the group unless the Government also agrees to
call new parliamentary elections for the spring. Although
the election reform group would be an excellent forum for
non-Parliamentary parties to engage the GOG, their rejection
of the offer calls into doubt their oft cited desire to be
included in policy discussions. Putting conditions on
participation, especially following repeated demands to be
included in such discussions, raises the question of whether
the non-Parliamentary opposition is committed to electoral
reform or simply wants another crack at elections. End
Summary and Comment.


2. (U) Speaker Bakradze made the offer for all interested
parties to participate in reforming the electoral code at a
December 15 press conference. Bakradze said that he expected
the work to be finished by Spring 2009 when it would be
reviewed by international specialists for
comments/recommendations. The code could then be adopted by
Parliament in time for local elections, currently scheduled
for autumn 2010. Bakradze said it would be up to the group
to decide whether to develop an entirely new code or simply
amend the existing one. ODIHR has criticized the election
code for "creating an unequal playing field in favor of the
ruling party", although it labeled the code as "generally
conducive to conducting democratic elections."


3. (U) A ey criticism of the code is the provision for the
election of the 75 majoritarian MPs in single mandate
constituencies (Note: The remaining 75 seats are distributed
among lawmakers elected through a traditional party-list
proportional system. End Note.). In the majoritarian
districts, any candidate that wins with more than 30% of the
total vote does not need to face a runoff. This system, in
light of the opposition's fragmentation, resulted in the
United National Movement (UNM) winning outright 71 of these
75 seats. Also, district sizes are extremely uneven in size,
ranging from 6,000 to 140,000 constituents which distorts the
relative level of Parliamentary representation among
districts. Both of these provisions are likely to be
discarded or changed.


4. (C) Speaker Bakradze told us he was hopeful agreement
could be reached rather quickly on a new election code. He
said he had reached out to the non-Parliamentary opposition,
but thus far only the Industrialists accepted his offer.
Labor, New Rights/Republicans, and Conservatives had all
refused to participate except via the NGO community, unless
the Government also committed to calling new pre-term
elections, something Bakradze categorically stated would not
happen. Bakradze alleged that former Speaker Burjandze,
Gamkrelidze, and others simply want another shot at
Parliament and hope that public pressure would push the GOG
to comply. Bakradze said that the electoral code working
Qto comply. Bakradze said that the electoral code working
group will move on with or without non-parliamentary
opposition participation.
TEFFT